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Tess Gerritsen Books in Order

Browse Tess Gerritsen's books in order, with series lists, summaries and where-to-start tips across her Rizzoli & Isles novels and standalone thrillers.

Last updated: December 23, 2025

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41 books

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The Shadow Friends

by Tess Gerritsen

2026

Planned as the third Martini Club thriller, this novel sends Maggie Bird and her ex spy neighbors into a new investigation sparked by a murder at a conference and the disappearance of one of their own, proving that retirement has not made them any safer.

The Summer Guests

by Tess Gerritsen

2025

Enemies from Maggie Bird's past have already tested the Martini Club once. Now, as summer visitors descend on coastal Purity, Maine, her uneasy alliance with police chief Jo Thibodeau is strained by new threats that suggest old operations are still casting shadows.

The Spy Coast

by Tess Gerritsen

2023

Sixty year old former CIA operative Maggie Bird has retired to a chicken farm in Purity, Maine, trying to forget a mission that ended in disaster. When a body is dumped in her driveway, she and her fellow Martini Club retirees are forced back into the spy game.

Listen to Me

by Tess Gerritsen

2022

Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles investigate the bludgeoning of a well liked nurse whose quiet life hid risky secrets. At the same time, Jane's mother Angela grows suspicious of strange neighbors and a missing girl, drawing danger to her own doorstep.

On the Edge

by Tess Gerritsen

2021

This two in one volume pairs Tess Gerritsen's novel Keeper of the Bride with a romantic suspense story by Rita Herron, delivering back to back tales of women targeted by killers, determined investigators and the dangerous secrets that bind them together.

No Reason to Trust

by Tess Gerritsen

2021

This omnibus couples Tess Gerritsen's romantic suspense novel Never Say Die with a bonus story by Barb Han. Together they offer two intense tales about dangerous investigations, buried wartime secrets and partners who have to decide how much they can trust each other.

Choose Me

by Tess Gerritsen

2021

When brilliant college student Taryn Moore falls from her Boston balcony, police label it suicide, but detective Frankie Loomis suspects more. The investigation exposes Taryn's obsessive affair with her married professor and the lies both of them told to protect themselves.

The Shape of Night

by Tess Gerritsen

2019

Food writer Ava Collette flees Boston for a seaside rental in Maine, hoping to finish a cookbook and outrun her guilt. In the eerie house called Brodie's Watch, she is drawn to a seductive ghostly sea captain and a string of unexplained local deaths.

I Know a Secret

by Tess Gerritsen

2017

Two murder victims are posed to resemble religious martyrs, their deaths echoing scenes from a disturbing student horror film. As Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles dig into a decades old crime, they face a survivor who knows exactly what happened and is not talking.

Playing with Fire

by Tess Gerritsen

2015

Violinist Julia Ansdell brings home a mysterious waltz she found in a Rome antique shop, only to see her toddler behave violently whenever she plays it. Her search for the music's composer leads to wartime Venice and a tragic story buried for decades.

Die Again

by Tess Gerritsen

2014

A big game hunter is found hanging in Boston, gutted like his prey, with links to a vanished safari party in Botswana. Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles piece together two brutal hunting grounds, one in the African bush and one much closer to home.

Last to Die

by Tess Gerritsen

2012

Three teenagers who each survived the massacre of their families are brought together at an isolated boarding school. Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles suspect someone is finishing old business, and the safest place on earth may be anything but.

John Doe

by Tess Gerritsen

2012

Maura Isles wakes on her sofa with no memory of leaving last night's party. When Jane Rizzoli catches a murder case tied to Maura's address, Maura fears she may have killed a man and races to piece together the missing hours.

The Silent Girl

by Tess Gerritsen

2011

A severed hand on a Chinatown rooftop leads Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles to a red haired woman slain with a sword and a decades old restaurant massacre. Chinese folklore, martial arts legends and buried guilt converge in a case that feels almost haunted.

Ice Cold

by Tess Gerritsen

2010

On a ski trip in Wyoming, Maura Isles joins a group that becomes stranded in a blizzard and stumbles on an abandoned religious compound with meals still on the tables. When Jane Rizzoli learns Maura is missing, she uncovers what really happened there.

The Keepsake

by Tess Gerritsen

2008

An apparent Egyptian mummy nicknamed Madam X is revealed by CT scan to be a modern murder victim preserved as a relic. Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles hunt an obsessive killer who turns women into macabre artifacts for his private collection.

Madame X

by Tess Gerritsen

2008

This edition of the Rizzoli and Isles novel about the so called Madam X mummy follows Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles as they learn that a supposed Egyptian relic is actually a modern corpse and hunt the collector who turns women into artifacts.

The Bone Garden

by Tess Gerritsen

2007

New homeowner Julia Hamill uncovers a murdered woman's skull in her Massachusetts garden, a discovery that leads her into the medical schools and graveyards of 1830s Boston. Through old letters she unravels a tale of body snatchers, childbirth fever and a relentless killer.

Freaks

by Tess Gerritsen

2007

In this Rizzoli and Isles short story, the emaciated body of a teenage girl is found beside an empty coffin in an abandoned church. Jane and Maura must decide whether her pale boyfriend's vampire claims hide a crime or something stranger.

Vanish

by Tess Gerritsen

2006

In the morgue, a supposedly dead young woman suddenly wakes on Maura Isles's table, then takes hostages at a Boston hospital. Trapped among them is heavily pregnant Jane Rizzoli, who must survive the siege and uncover the victim's terrifying story.

The Mephisto Club

by Tess Gerritsen

2006

A woman is murdered on Christmas Eve with a Latin message written in blood, drawing Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles into the orbit of a secretive group that studies evil. As bodies pile up, occult symbols and family history intertwine in lethal ways.

Murder and Mayhem

by Tess Gerritsen

2006

An omnibus volume for romantic suspense fans, this edition collects full length Tess Gerritsen thrillers in a single package, blending high stakes crimes, passionate relationships and twisting investigations in one convenient read.

Body Double

by Tess Gerritsen

2004

Maura Isles confronts her own past when a murdered woman found outside her home looks exactly like her. As Jane Rizzoli investigates, Maura digs into adoption records and buried family secrets that someone will kill to keep hidden.

The Sinner

by Tess Gerritsen

2003

During a brutal winter, a novice nun is found murdered in a Boston convent and a second mutilated body lies nearby. Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles follow a trail from cloistered lives to global medical research, uncovering sins no one wants exposed.

The Apprentice

by Tess Gerritsen

2002

Jane Rizzoli faces a new series of murders that echo the crimes of imprisoned serial killer Warren Hoyt. Teaming up with FBI agent Gabriel Dean and pathologist Maura Isles, she realizes a second predator is learning from the master and targeting her.

The Surgeon

by Tess Gerritsen

2001

In Boston, a sadistic killer dubbed the Surgeon is recreating the trauma of trauma surgeon Catherine Cordell, who once survived a similar attack. Detective Jane Rizzoli hunts a predator who seems to know every detail of Cordell's secret past.

Perfect Timing

by Tess Gerritsen

2001

This anthology brings together romantic suspense stories, including Tess Gerritsen's Presumed Guilty, offering intertwined tales of love, betrayal and danger where relationships are tested by murder investigations and long buried secrets.

Gravity

by Tess Gerritsen

1999

Physician astronaut Emma Watson heads to the International Space Station to study microbes but finds a lethal organism mutating in microgravity. Stranded after disaster strikes the shuttle, she must contain the infection in orbit while ground control weighs Earth's survival against her life.

Bloodstream

by Tess Gerritsen

1998

Dr. Claire Elliott moves to a lakeside Maine town hoping for a calmer life with her teenage son. Instead she faces a wave of inexplicable violence among local kids and uncovers a sinister biological cause rooted in the town's past.

Presumed Guilty

by Tess Gerritsen

1997

Miranda Wood wakes to find her married ex lover stabbed to death in her bed, with her own knife. Branded the prime suspect, she must clear her name while navigating anonymous allies, old betrayals and a murder case where everyone looks guilty.

Life Support

by Tess Gerritsen

1997

ER physician Toby Harper treats an elderly man with strange neurological symptoms who then vanishes from the hospital. As more patients from an exclusive retirement community deteriorate, Toby traces the outbreak to an experimental quest for youth that has turned deadly.

Keeper of the Bride

by Tess Gerritsen

1996

Left at the altar, Nina Cormier narrowly escapes when a bomb destroys the empty church. As more attempts on her life follow, detective Sam Navarro races to uncover why an ordinary schoolteacher has become the target of a meticulous killer.

Harvest

by Tess Gerritsen

1996

Transplant fellow Abby DiMatteo defies orders to give a donor heart to a dying teenager instead of a wealthy socialite, triggering political fallout at a prestigious Boston hospital. When a second perfect organ appears, Abby uncovers a chilling scheme built on stolen bodies.

Stolen

by Tess Gerritsen

1995

A cargo ship sinks under suspicious circumstances, leaving bodies locked in a final embrace, and only Clea Rice knows why. Her investigation collides with that of charming English aristocrat Jordan Tavistock, forcing them to work together as dangerous enemies close in.

In Their Footsteps

by Tess Gerritsen

1994

Haunted by the mysterious deaths of her intelligence officer parents, Beryl Tavistock begins asking questions that powerful people want left alone. Her search pulls her into a world of espionage, long buried scandals and a wary alliance with ex CIA agent Richard Wolf.

Girl Missing

by Tess Gerritsen

1994

In a decaying city neighborhood, medical examiner Kat Novak autopsies a young woman who appears to have overdosed, clutching a matchbook with cryptic numbers. When more victims surface, Kat suspects a lethal new drug and a predator who is always one step ahead.

The Whistleblower

by Tess Gerritsen

1992

Victor Holland staggers out of the night and straight into Catherine Weaver's car, carrying a bullet wound and a story about a deadly conspiracy. As killers close in, Cathy must decide whether this stranger is her only hope or her biggest threat.

Never Say Die

by Tess Gerritsen

1992

Twenty years after her father's plane vanished over the Southeast Asian jungle, Willy Jane Maitland travels to Vietnam to learn the truth. With ex army officer Guy Barnard as reluctant guide, she uncovers wartime secrets that ruthless enemies still want buried.

Under the Knife

by Tess Gerritsen

1990

Honolulu surgeon Kate Chesne is accused of killing a patient on the operating table and faces ruin. Lawyer David Ransom takes the malpractice case, only to realize Kate is being framed and that someone inside the hospital is willing to kill again.

Call After Midnight

by Tess Gerritsen

1987

Newlywed Sarah Fontaine refuses to believe her husband died in a hotel fire overseas. Teaming up with State Department agent Nick O'Hara, she races across Europe, uncovering a trail of espionage, false identities and a marriage built on dangerous secrets.

Adventure's Mistress

by Tess Gerritsen

1985

An early romantic adventure from Tess Gerritsen, this novel follows a woman drawn out of her safe routine into a world of risk, travel and temptation, where trusting the wrong person could cost her both her heart and her future.

Where should I start?

If you want to meet her signature detectives: The SurgeonThe ApprenticeThe Sinner
If you like high stakes medical thrillers: HarvestLife SupportBloodstreamGravity
If you prefer standalones with a historical twist: The Bone GardenPlaying with Fire
If you want small town spy games and older protagonists: The Spy CoastThe Summer Guests
If you enjoy atmospheric, gothic suspense: The Shape of NightChoose Me

Author bio

Tess Gerritsen grew up in San Diego, California, the daughter of a Chinese immigrant and a Chinese American seafood chef. As a kid she devoured Nancy Drew mysteries and science fiction paperbacks, dreaming of writing her own stories one day.

From the start she loved science as much as stories, a mix that would shape every part of her career.

Her parents worried that writing would not pay the bills, so she chose a practical path. She studied anthropology at Stanford University, then went on to medical school at the University of California, San Francisco, earning her M.D. in the late 1970s.

After graduation she moved to Honolulu and spent close to a decade working as an internist. Long shifts in the hospital gave her a front row seat to real medical drama, from emergency admissions to quiet late night wards, and showed her how people behave when they are frightened, hopeful or grieving.

It turned out that her years in exam rooms were perfect training for suspense fiction.

While on maternity leave, she began to write as a way to unwind from medicine. Those pages turned into her first published novel, the romantic thriller Call After Midnight, which appeared in 1987. It was followed by a string of romantic suspense titles, including Never Say Die, Under the Knife and Presumed Guilty, books that mixed high stakes danger with relationships under pressure. During those years she also wrote a television movie script, Adrift, which aired as a prime time movie of the week.

A chance dinner conversation about organ trafficking pushed her work in a darker direction. Drawing on her medical training, she wrote Harvest, a thriller about illegal transplants and vulnerable patients. The book was her first hardcover release and landed on the New York Times bestseller list, opening the door to more medical thrillers like Life Support, Bloodstream and Gravity, each rooted in real world science and ethical questions.

In 2001 she introduced Boston homicide detective Jane Rizzoli in The Surgeon, followed by medical examiner Maura Isles in The Apprentice. What began as a single novel grew into the long running Rizzoli & Isles series, where a blunt, blue collar cop and a meticulous, somewhat aloof pathologist solve murders that range from serial killings to historical conspiracies. The books later inspired a television adaptation, bringing Jane and Maura to a much wider audience.

Alongside the series, Gerritsen has kept experimenting. The Bone Garden braided a present day mystery with 19th century Boston grave robbers. Playing with Fire linked a modern violinist to a Holocaust era composer through a haunting piece of music. The Shape of Night delivered a coastal gothic set in Maine, while Choose Me, co written with Gary Braver, explored a campus affair that ends in tragedy. Most recently she launched the Martini Club novels, beginning with The Spy Coast, about retired spies in a quiet Maine town whose past refuses to stay buried.

She has also ventured into film, collaborating with her son Josh on the indie horror movie Island Zero and the documentary Magnificent Beast. Now retired from medicine, she writes full time and lives in Maine. When she is not working on a new book, she tends her garden, plays the fiddle and keeps an eye out for the next idea that will not let her go.

Edited by

Richard Reis

Software engineer whose passion for tracking book recommendations from podcasts inspired the creation of MRB.

Anurag Ramdasan

Lead investor at 3one4 Capital whose startup expertise and love for books helped shaped MRB and its growth.

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All 41 Tess Gerritsen Books in Order (Complete List 2026)